Dear All:

I am a physical chemist who has worked for more years than I care to
remember at the National Research Council of Canada but have now been
retired for about 18 months.

My wife (Jan) and I have a long standing interest in antiques.  Our house
is partly furnished with primitive Canadian pieces, the walls are covered
with antique maps and orchid prints.  Jan has a collection of Imari
plates and I have a collection of musical instruments including two
player pianos, a pump organ and a modern MIDI keyboard.

One of the player pianos is being restored at this time.  It was
manufactured by the Martin-Orme company of Ottawa in 1918.  This company
operated from about 1904 to 1925 and is the only one to have made pianos
in our home town so the instrument has some historical interest for me.
The piano was in very bad shape when I acquired it.  One side had come
loose and was held in place, rather precariously, with a large nail and
there were failed glue joints throughout the frame, but the sound board
seemed to be in good shape!  At present the frame has been reglued, the
plate re-installed and restrung.

The ivory keys were in generally good condition and have only had to be
rebushed.  The piano action is also in generally good order with only
moderate wear on the hammers - however most of the bridle tapes are
broken.  Work on this has just started.  I am a little curious as to the
poor condition of the frame and the good condition of the sound board,
keys and action.

My original thoughts were that most of the damage was due to water (or
perhaps beer since I found it in a bar).  I now realize that the keys and
action came from the Otto Higel Company of Toronto and I speculate that
the sound board and pin block also came from elsewhere.  These components
were assembled in Ottawa with what appears to have been poor workmanship.

For example several glue joints show evidence that they never made good
contact - brush marks could be clearly seen on the glue so that it was
evident that the joint had never made good contact.  Work on the player
action was started last winter while the piano languished in the garage.

It had previously been "restored" relatively recently by someone who
obviously did not like or understand the Themodist expression mechanism
and had removed the expression pressure regulator bellows and the
associated valves in the expression boxes turning it into a regular 88
note player.  Oh - and he/she also had a great fondness for silicone
rubber (Ugh!!).

I am a beginner as far as pianos and player actions are concerned so that
it took me some time to figure out how the expression boxes were supposed
to work and I ended up making new valves and pressure regulators from
scratch (with the help of a photo of a similar restored instrument.  I
estimate that another six months of work is still needed (bearing in mind
my current relaxed operating procedures).

This long (perhaps too long) introduction brings me to a couple of
questions that I would like to post on MMD.  I have become interested in
the early development of jazz and of course in the music of Scott Joplin.
However even before Joplin's birth one has to consider the music of
Louis-Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) which clearly, it seems to me,
provides a link between Joplin and the romantics such as Liszt and
Chopin.  I continue to be amazed at the number of knowledgeable musicians
that I have met who have never even heard of Gottschalk.

This music was still popular in the early 20th century and several pieces
can be found on piano rolls.  They were mainly the sentimental salon
pieces such as "The Dying poet" and "The Last Hope".  Up to the present I
have been able to find, in addition to the two mentioned above, copies of
Ricordati, Printemps d'Amour, Fantasy on the Theme of the Brazillian
National Anthem and Pasquinade.

I would be interested in learning of the existence and acquiring other
rolls.  I have the feeling that some of his best music has never been
seen in the roll format.  Particular favourites of mine are Le Bananier,
Bamboula, Souvenir de Porto Rico, Danza, La Gallina Ojos Criollos.  Some
of these pieces I have transcribed to MIDI (I certainly do not play well
enough to record these directly so each note had to be entered by hand).
Souvenir de Porto Rico, La Gallina and Ojos are complete and Danza and
Pasquinade are in progress.

So my second request is to ask is there anyone out there who can cut a
roll from a MIDI file?

Regards, John Johns

Dr. John W. C. Johns
149 St. Laurent Blvd.
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1K 2Y6
E-Mail johns@gh1.sims.nrc.ca
Tel: (613)749-0614